One of the great advantages to being a member of the Freedom Boat Club is you have access to boats all over the country. There just happens to be a boat club affiliate here! I arranged a boat to take the family off-shore prior to our arrival, so the folks had the boat rready and waiting when we arrived…

and in just a few minutes we were ready to cast-off!

And we’re off…

Heading across the bay…

Into the inlet and out to sea! As you can see, Adam like’s to sit next to the Captain 🙂

Destination? Anywhere!

We spent the afternoon on the open water. I’d open the throttle and we’d jump the waves at about 50-mph The boys had a blast! Every now and then, I’d slow to idle and we’d just sit on the water rocking back and forth with the rhythm of the ocean. It was wonderful!

Alex would lounge…

Adam would pace (LOL)…

Cindy would pose…

Beautiful and sooo peaceful!

one the way back to the marina, we decided to stop and visit Peanut Island, which is situated in the middle of Palm Beach Shore Harbor…

It’s a great place to swim and snorkel, but very rocky!

This is the life!

We had a good time swimming and exploring the island, but alas, the day was drawing to a close, so we reluctantly packed-up the boat…

and motored-off toward the marina. This time Alex sat next to the Captain…

So, we slept-in a little this morning, then went downstairs for some breakfast. It was a bright and sunny day and we were all looking forward to spending the day in the water. It was probably about 10:00 a.m., when we walked out on the resort’s private beach. The concession folks already had our loungers and umbrellas up, so we set-up camp and got busy r-e-l-a-x-i-n-g…

We had a magnificent view…

and the water felt great!

We lounged on the beach and swam until the late afternoon…

when we packed-up and headed to the pool for drinks and a bite to eat…and more swimming! Of course, we have to pause for a family picture…

Today we begin our 10-day summer vacation. We arrived this afternoon at our resort in Palm Beach Shores. After unpacking and grabbing a quick bite to eat at the Cabana, we strolled out to the beach. I arranged for some chairs and umbrellas that should be up and ready for us to spend the next few days soaking-up some sun!

It’s the last day of our mini-vacation and what better place to spend it than at Disney’s Animal Kingdom? On the ride into the park the tram director commented, “It’s a jungle, not a zoo”, which captured a chuckle from the crowd.

The photographer liked Alex’s Sorcerer Mickey hat and wanted to draw some attention to it…

The first order of business today was a visit to Africa…

We were waiting for the “Festival of the Lion King” show and spotted this drum-beating native on stilts, who talked to the boys as he passed…

After the Lion King show, we made our way to the Animal Kingdom’s new exhibit, Pandora – The World of Avatar…

Complete with the Ayram alusìng (a.k.a. floating mountains)…

and an AMP (Amplified Mobility Platform)…

and who could visit Pandora without sampling the local cuisine?

Mmmm…

One the way out, the boys and I stopped for a photo outside one of the Resources Development Administration’s buildings…

and Alex posed for a visitor pass…

We had a good time in Pandora, but we had a Safari to get to in Africa, so we left behind the mythical land of Avatar and headed back to Africa. Soon we were on the truck and off into the jungles of Tanzania on our Kilimanjaro Safari…

It’s always fun visiting the animals, like the hippos enjoying a swim and the giraffe’s resting on the Savanna…

By the time the safari ended, it was clouding up and getting ready to storm. We had one more ride we wanted to get to today: The Expedition Everest roller coaster.

Well, me and Adam, anyway, as Alex and Mom aren’t too fond of the roller coasters. Anyway, we took off to Asia, while mom and Alex were off to Discovery Island to the “It’s Tough to be a Bug” show. We had a few minutes before our FastPass kicked-in, so Adam and I took in the sights…

Soon, it started to rain, so we donned our ponchos and got in line for Everest. Although the rain wasn’t too bad, the thunder was loud and lightening in the area caused them to shut-down the ride as we were just about to board the roller coaster! Adam and I hung-out for almost 30-minutes when a break in the storm allowed the ride to open-up again. Whoo hoo…

After three or four groups had gone, the lightening caused them to close the ride again and it wouldn’t reopen for the rest of the day. Whew! We barely made it!! By this time, the rain had let-up a bit and we made our way to the exit.

This evening, we dined at the Disney Polynesian Restaurant and watched the Magic Kingdom fireworks from the beach on Seven Seas Lagoon. What a great time!

Storms are in the forecast today, so we make a short day of our visit to the Experimental Prototype City of Tomorrow, otherwise known as EPCOT. The nice thing about having annual passes to Disney is you don’t feel like you have to get in as much “fun” as you can while you’re here. After all with a day pass, once the day is over, so is your fun. We’ll often visit one of the parks for just a few hours, then spend the rest of the day at the pool or doing some other activity. We love the flexibility it brings.

Anyway, we slept in a bit this morning, but the weather was pretty nice, so here we are…

There’s a new “Frozen Ever After” ride in Norway in the world showcase we wanted to experience. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to get FastPassed, so I waited in line while Cindy took the boys on something else. The wait was almost an hour, and Cindy and the boys arrived just in time to get on the ancient Norwegian boat for the ride through Arendelle (which essentially was a Fast Pass for them, right–Dad, the physical Fast Pass).

When the ride was over, the boys wanted to go again, but I wasn’t up to waiting another hour in line (Dad-as-Fast-Pass duty gets old pretty quickly). So, we had lunch in China (next to Norway, of course) and then toured the World Showcase for a bit. It was clouding up by this time and the thunder was rumbling. We decided to make our way to the exit before the storm made it to the park.

We spent the rest of the afternoon playing games in the hotel room. This evening, we had a great dinner at Delmonico’s, where the inside of the men’s bathroom door says, “Women”, which momentarily threw me for a loop!

So, it’s Day 2 of our long Disney weekend and today we took in one of the water parks: Typhoon Lagoon…

We’ve never taken advantage of Disney’s water parks before, so this year I included them in our annual passes. I’m glad I did because we had a blast! That was, of course, after we were through taking pictures…

and a couple more…

One with a frame…

And finally, the FISH HEAD…

So, we F-I-N-A-L-L-Y get to the beach and set-up our chairs…

then we hit the pool…and not just ANY pool, it’s one of the world’s largest outdoor wave pools! It actually knocked me down and carried me several feet! We LOVED it!

There were also several waterslides, one was family sized and we all road in it together. Alex was especially fond of this one…he liked it so much we had to ride it twice!

Summer is in full-swing, so that means (at least) a couple of trips to one of our favorite place on Earth: Disney World. So, we arrived at our Hilton Grand Vacations resort about 3:00 this afternoon, unpacked, and hopped back in the family truckster to head over to the Magic Kingdom.

Given that we were arriving late in the day, there wasn’t the huge crowd of people entering the park, which made for a smooth and rapid entry to Main Street!

The boys even got to meet on of the famous Disney celebrities on the way in, and Adam, as usual, isn’t thrilled about having to stop for pictures…

We had a couple of Fast Passes this evening…the first one is split between Space Mountain for me and Adam and the Buzz Lightyear ride for mom and Alex (since mom and Alex don’t really care for Space Mountain)…

Next to the People Mover, this is probably Alex’s favorite!

While Adam is the roller coaster king (and his dad is the jester :-))

We also had a passes to The Seven Dwarf’s Mine Train, which lately have been hard to get! The last couple of times we’ve visited the Magic Kingdom, we were unable to get Fast Passes for this ride. Alex was very disappointed during our last visit because we couldn’t ride, you’d think he’d have been thrilled this time! Well, he was until we got ready to board, then he had second thoughts. He still went, but he wasn’t too happy…

The fireworks started just as we got on the Mine Train and it was really cool watching them from that vantage point! After it was over, Adam naturally wanted to go on again, while Alex said he’d had enough! So, we just sat back and watched the fireworks over Beast’s castle…

This weekend, while I enjoyed (??) a Leadership Conference in Phoenix, Cindy and the boys met Jess and her family in Orlando for a mini-vacation. Today, they started with a Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious breakfast at Disney’s Grand Floridian, then will be moving on to Animal Kingdom.

Here’s the gang with The Mad Hatter…

And Kameran and Kalie don’t seem to mind the rather creepy looking Mary Poppins, but Cater John is a bit leery…

Oliver was thrilled to meet Pooh, and A2 always enjoy hanging-out with Tigger…

So, how do you top this breakfast adventure? How about a day at Disney’s Animal Kingdom?

There’s a song by Kenny Loggins called, ‘Celebrate me Home’. It’s about a man (Kenny, I suppose) who returns home for the Holidays to be among his friends. They play music and sing. For the man, the music recalls memories of home when he’s away. Kenny sings,

♬
Please, celebrate me home
Play me one more song,
That I’ll always remember,
And I can recall,
Whenever I find myself too all alone,
I can sing me home.
♬

So, what’s the point? I originally heard this song in 1977 and had a copy of Kenny’s album of the same name. At the time, ‘Celebrate’ didn’t have much impact on me (my favorite song from the album was ‘Lady Luck’). However, I would rediscover this song almost 10-years later. In 1986, I was living in Colorado Springs and on my first Air Force assignment. Until this time I was never more than 2-3-hours from home, so it was easy to return for special occasions like Thanksgiving and Christmas. Now, I was 1,500-miles from home, which is no easy drive. In December 1986, I was spending my second Christmas away. Although I had a family of my own (my son was less than a month old), nostalgia was tugging at me, then I heard ‘Celebrate’ on the radio and the song took on a whole new meaning.

This year we’re spending Christmas with my folks and extended family. And although I can ‘count on being gone’, for the next few days you can ‘Celebrate me Home’…